Delays at SFO Due to Midwest Polar Vortex

Hundreds of flights are canceled across the country just as folks are trying to get home from the holidays with some of those cancellations at Bay Area airports.

On Monday, San Francisco International Airport had logged 28 flight cancellations heading to the snow-covered East Coast.

That follows 66 flights canceled on Sunday from SFO, including 23 departing flights and 43 arriving flights. The cancellations were all due to the winter weather on the East Coast.

Compounding the problem with weather-related delays and cancellations, a plane actually skidded off the runway at JFK airport in New York this morning--and went into a snowbank after landing.

Severe East Coast Weather Cancels Flights at SFO

Hundreds of flights are canceled across the country just as folks are trying to get home from the holidays with some of those cancellations at Bay Area airports. NBC Bay Area's Monte Francis reports from SFO.

(Published Sunday, Jan. 5, 2014)

No one was hurt on board that Delta Airlines flight from Toronto, but the incident prompted authorities to shut down JFK for about an hour.

Affected cities throughout the day included Chicago, New York, Boston, Newark, Washington Dulles, and Philadelphia.

Several passengers at SFO were told they will not be able to get to their destinations for at least another day.

"We’re used to traveling with the military but this is flat out ridiculous," Seattle resident Aaron Velvick said. "It took us seven hours in this line yesterday just to get any form of a ticket just to get back to Anchorage. My feet are sore and everyone’s upset, and I feel bad for these guys because they don’t know what they’re in for."

Jackie Leung, who is from New York City, said her flight was canceled too.

"I got an email that said my flight was canceled for tomorrow, so I tried to call and there was high-call volume, so i couldn’t get through."

In addition to the problems with the weather, an American Airlines flight from SFO to JFK was diverted to Kansas City today for security reasons.

The NBC affiliate in Kansas City reported that American Airlines Flight 24 made an emergency landing there at about 1:30 Sunday afternoon after someone found what turned out to be an unattended flash drive in one of the bathrooms.

Thinking there could be a bomb threat, the plane was evacuated of all 215 passengers and nine crew members. In addition to those 66 canceled flights here at SFO, more than a hundred flights have been delayed.

But there appear to be no major problems to report at Mineta-San Jose or Oakland-International airports.